


stay still so i can look at you

by fictionalportal



Series: 30 Days of Pride [25]
Category: The Shannara Chronicles (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Amberle's not a fucking TREE, Bathing/Washing, F/F, Fluff, i'm in denial, so here everything is fine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-26
Updated: 2017-06-26
Packaged: 2018-11-19 05:35:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11306763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fictionalportal/pseuds/fictionalportal
Summary: Eretria finally gets to experience a royal bath (and the sight of Amberle in a very flattering robe is almost as good as the massage).





	stay still so i can look at you

“I knew it,” Eretria said, her syllables broken up by the hands chopping at her tense shoulders. “Royal baths are amazing.”

Amberle stood by the door to the bathing chamber in an enticingly thin, white robe. “If I recall correctly, you were mocking me when we had that discussion.”

“Was I? Don’t remember,” Eretria trailed off, relishing the warmth of the water in the pristine square bath not unlike the one they’d soaked in at Pykon.

The princess addressed the attendant. “Thank you, Yara.”

With a bow, Yara exited the room, leaving Amberle and Eretria alone.

Eretria closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the cold tile edge of the bath. She didn’t realize that it was possible to relax like this, to have none of her muscles twitching in preparation for an inevitable confrontation. Since she was small she’d been a rover, and somehow she’d left that life only to spend months running over hostile terrain away from (or towards) danger. Her feet weren’t pounding against dirt for the first time in ages, and she was in no rush to change that.

At the soft sound of water swishing, Eretria’s eyes snapped open. Amberle sat across from her and dangled her feet in the warm water. She stared at her toes, her gaze distant and unfocused.

“What’s the matter, Princess?” Eretria asked. “All this pampering got you down?”

Amberle offered a sorry excuse for a smile in response.

Eretria considered pressing the issue but figured that it was likely to lead to some sort of squabble. It wasn’t worth disrupting the first tranquil moment that either of them had enjoyed in a long while.

“I’ve been meaning to talk to you,” Amberle said. Her feet fidgeted faster under the water.

“We’re talking right now,” Eretria commented. The appearance of Amberle’s serious face told her to shut down the sarcasm. “Fine, what?”

“You don’t have to be so rude about it,” Amberle muttered.

Eretria shot her a questioning look. “Amberle.”

“I suppose I’ve been putting this off for a while now.”

Eretria resisted the urge to tell her that she was still procrastinating by prolonging the preamble to this conversation.

“Do you remember when we were trapped in that old human building? And Zora was hunting us?”

“Hunting you, more like.” Eretria noticed the irritated twitch of Amberle’s lip and checked her instinct to be defensive. So much of her wanted to throw up walls anytime someone tried to initiate an emotional conversation, but with Amberle she was torn between the need to keep her at arm’s length and the desire to hold her in a tight embrace. “Sorry. Yes, I remember.”

“Facing Zora made me feel something. And you were right, I didn’t expect it, and I was scared.”

Eretria wanted to say that she was worried, too. Worried that her ex might put an arrow through one of her friends and steal their ears. 

Amberle went on. “When we left you behind, I was so angry. Honestly, I forgot about the map and the mission and the demons. I just wanted to save you.”

“You should know by now--I don’t need saving,” Eretria said, her words sharper than her softening tone.

“I do know.” Amberle paused, visibly mulling over what she might say next. She reached for the fine knot around her waist that held her robe closed. “I guess what I’m saying is--” she tugged at the knot and shrugged the robe off, letting it fall into a puddle on the tile “--is that I’m not afraid anymore.”

As Amberle slid into the bath, Eretria put together the pieces, though her typically sharp mind worked a little more slowly with a robeless Amberle right in front of her. The princess waded through the waist-high water to where Eretria sat by the opposite ledge. She seemed to take her time crossing, and Eretria wondered whether her brain was stretching the seconds or if Amberle was actually hesitating, holding back, regretting what she’d just said.

That question was dismissed when Amberle settled onto Eretria’s lap and touched her face so, so gently. Never in a million lifetimes could Eretria have imagined such a thing coming to pass: the princess and the rover, together in the bath.

Needless to say, it was the best bath Eretria ever had.


End file.
